The new Ms. Marvel is a shapeshifting Muslim teen from Jersey City

(UPI) -- It seems like everyday there's a new superhero story in the works, but it's not everyday that a comic book hero is Muslim-American teenage girl from Jersey City.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that Marvel Comics has commissioned a new Ms. Marvel series, since the blond and blue-eyed Carole Danvers ascended to the role of Captain Marvel.

Replacing her will be Kamala Khan, a 16-year-old who idolizes Danvers, but begins her own superhero career when she discovers shapeshifting powers.

“Kamala has all of her opportunities in front her and she is loaded with potential, but her parents’ high expectations come with tons of pressure,” Marvel said of its new character. “When Kamala suddenly gets powers that give her the opportunity to be just like her idol, Captain Marvel, it challenges the very core of her conservative values.”

“Her brother is extremely conservative,” Marvel editor Sana Amanat explained to the Times. “Her mom is paranoid that she’s going to touch a boy and get pregnant. Her father wants her to concentrate on her studies and become a doctor.”

“I wanted Ms. Marvel to be true-to-life, something real people could relate to, particularly young women," author G. Willow Wilson said in a press release. "High school was a very vivid time in my life, so I drew heavily on those experiences -- impending adulthood, dealing with school, emotionally charged friendships that are such a huge part of being a teenager.”

“It's for all the geek girls out there, and everybody else who's ever looked at life from the fringe," she added.

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